Group A of the Olympic Basketball Tournament will undoubtedly attract a ton of attention around the world simply because of all the stars in it. The group contains 18 NBA players and six from the EuroLeague teams, so there is no shortage of incredible athletes. At first glance, basketball fans could think that it will lack in competition. However, Team USA lost two friendly matches, France lost all three friendlies. Meantime the Czech Republic completed a huge upset against Canada to qualify for the Olympics, so it’s anybody’s game.

USA

Team USA has won gold in three straight Olympics. However, this year, the Americans don’t look like the invincible basketball giants they were in Rio fives years ago. The USA probably had the toughest preparation out of all the Olympic teams. Even though Gregg Popovich is considered one of the greatest NBA coaches ever, his team lost two straight games against Nigeria and Australia. The Americans also lost Bradley Beal to health and safety protocols, Kevin Love to injury, and Zach LaVine (temporarily), who did not travel with the team to Tokyo. The team arrived with only eight players, including JaVale McGee and Keldon Johnson, who were last-minute replacements for Love and Beal.

On the brighter side, LaVine is set to re-join the team for their first official game. Also, the NBA Finals just wrapped up, and Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, and Devin Booker will join Team USA shortly. Let’s also not forget that the Americans still have NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, and Jayson Tatum, so they are still considered favorites to bring home the gold. Coach Pop could not lead his team to the podium at the 2019 FIBA World Cup as the Americans lost to France in the quarter-finals. This summer, he has a chance for redemption, with the USA’s first game set against France on Sunday. If the USA can put their preparation problems in the past and win their first game, it could give the team a huge boost in morale and eventually carry them to a golden victory.

4	Keldon Johnson	SF	198 cm	96 kg	21 yr.
5	Zach LaVine	SG	196 cm	83 kg	26 yr.
6	Damian Lillard	PG	191 cm	88 kg	31 yr.
7	Kevin Durant	SF	211 cm	107 kg	32 yr.
8	Khris Middleton	SF	201 cm	98 kg	29 yr.
9	Jerami Grant	SF, PF	204 cm	100 kg	27 yr.
10	Jayson Tatum	SF	203 cm	93 kg	23 yr.
11	JaVale McGee	C, PF	213 cm	108 kg	33 yr.
12	Jrue Holiday	PG	193 cm	82 kg	31 yr.
13	Bam Adebayo	PF	208 cm	113 kg	24 yr.
14	Draymond Green	PF, C	202 cm	104 kg	31 yr.
15	Devin Booker	SG	198 cm	93 kg	24 yr.

FRANCE

France didn’t have the best Olympic preparation either. They lost all three of their friendly matches. Two of them came against Spain and one against the hosts of the Olympics, Japan. The winners of bronze medals at the 2019 World Cup brought back their core players - Gobert, Fournier, De Colo, Batum, and Ntlikina. They have also added talented athletes, like Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Moustapha Fall, who will inject a lot of defense and physicality.

During friendly games coach Vincent Colet had to experiment in order to better integrate the new guys, which may be one of the main reasons the team wasn’t successful in pre-Olympic matches. However, the team’s continuity and experience are much more significant than the dropped friendly games. The coach will likely go back to playing guys that carried the team in the past championships. But if France doesn’t pull it together quickly, they may be in for a disappointing summer.

1	Frank Ntilikina	PG	196 cm	86 kg	22 yr.
3	Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot	SG	198 cm	99 kg	26 yr.
4	Thomas Heurtel	PG, SG	188 cm	91 kg	32 yr.
5	Nicolas Batum	SF	203 cm	91 kg	32 yr.
7	Guerschon Yabusele	PF	203 cm	118 kg	25 yr.
10	Evan Fournier	SG, SF	201 cm	93 kg	28 yr.
12	Nando De Colo	PG, SG	196 cm	91 kg	34 yr.
17	Vincent Poirier	C	213 cm	106 kg	27 yr.
21	Andrew Albicy	PG	178 cm	77 kg	31 yr.
27	Rudy Gobert	C	216 cm	111 kg	29 yr.
28	Petr Cornelie	C	209 cm	100 kg	26 yr.
93	Moustapha Fall	C	218 cm		28 yr.

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

There was no shortage of surprises in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. However, the Czech Republic may have presented basketball fans with the biggest upset of them all. After losing to Turkey in the group stage, the Czechs edged out Uruguay by one point to advance to the semi-finals, where the host team, Canada, was waiting. The Canadians were the clear-cut favorites to advance to the Olympics. However, head coach Ronen Ginzburg and his squad had other ideas. Even though they couldn’t match Canada’s talent, they managed to outplay them in a 103-101 overtime victory.

The Czechs have been playing together for a long time, so they know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Tomas Satoransky, Jan Vesely, Ondrej Balvin, and Blake Schilb are the foursome who take on most responsibility. Even though Tomas Satoransky is the only NBA player on the squad, the remainder of the team have plenty of experience on the international stage. The USA have faced the Czech Republic in the 2019 World Cup and won by 21. However, coach Gregg Popovich mentioned during one of his interviews this summer that he has a ton of respect for the Czechs because of their experience, coaching, and physicality. If the Czech Republic can beat Canada, they can beat anybody, and the world knows that.

1	Patrik Auda	C	206 cm	107 kg	31 yr.
4	Tomas Vyoral	SG	192 cm	82 kg	28 yr.
6	Patrick Samoura	SG	198 cm		20 yr.
8	Tomas Satoransky	SG	200 cm	93 kg	29 yr.
11	Blake Schilb	SF	201 cm	95 kg	37 yr.
12	Ondrej Balvin	C	217 cm		31 yr.
13	Jakub Sirina	PG	185 cm	77 kg	33 yr.
15	Martin Peterka	C	205 cm	100 kg	26 yr.
17	Jaromir Bohacik	SG	197 cm		29 yr.
19	Ondrej Sehnal	PG	190 cm		23 yr.
23	Lukas Palyza	SF	201 cm	90 kg	31 yr.
24	Jan Vesely	PF, C	211 cm	109 kg	31 yr.

IRAN

Let’s start by saying that the last time Iran won a game in the Olympics was way back in 1948. They have lost four of five friendly games this summer by an average of 31 points. The team managed to beat Japan by 5, but the hosts of the Olympics aren’t considered a basketball juggernaut, so victory has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Iran does not have any players that compete at the highest level of international basketball, so it will be difficult to shock the world and produce an upset against any of the three other teams in the group.

3	Sina Vahedi		187 cm		20 yr.
5	Pujan Jalalpoor	PG	185 cm		28 yr.
7	Mohammad Hassanzadeh	PF	201 cm		30 yr.
8	Saeid Davarpanah	SF, SG	190 cm		33 yr.
13	Mohammad Jamshidijafarabadi	SG, PG	198 cm	91 kg	29 yr.
14	Mohammadsamad Nikkhah Bahrami	SF	201 cm	99 kg	38 yr.
15	Hamed Haddadi	C	218 cm	120 kg	36 yr.
17	Navid Rezaeifar	SG	191 cm		24 yr.
20	Mike Rostampour	PF	206 cm		29 yr.
23	Aaron Geramipoor	PF	208 cm		28 yr.
41	Arsalan Kazemi	PF	201 cm	103 kg	31 yr.
88	Behnam Yakhchali	SG	191 cm	87 kg	26 yr.

 

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